Monday, February 2, 2009

Saturday, Peeper and I went to a CapitalCity for a meeting of the BlueState Democrats, and she was (if I do say so myself) quite the belle of the proverbial ball.

I was wearing her most of the day, and it's a good thing, because it kept people from asking to hold her, or from touching her too much.

(Of course, it means that the only thing they can get to is her face and maybe a hand or two - which are not my first choice of parts for strangers(ish) to touch!)

We were just swarmed by people looking at her, asking questions about her, telling me how beautiful / cute / well-behaved she is, congratulating me, etc.

What's funny - given that I was twenty-nine weeks pregnant at the last meeting - is how many people were shocked to see me with a baby, having had no idea that there was one on the way!

It was also funny how many (okay, not a ton, but more than a couple) made comments about her looking like me!

There weren't any big-namers in attendance to get photos with or anything, but it's likely that she met at least one future member of one or more of our statewide courts. She certainly met a lot of candidates for those positions.

(Oh, did I mention that she met the governor when she was about 5 weeks old? We've got a photo of that.)

She was quite well-behaved for most of the day, although she totally did not stick to the agenda that I'd set for when she was supposed to be hungry (between meetings) and when she was supposed to be sleeping or hanging out with a full tummy (during meetings) but I had cleared myself of any real responsibilities, and was able to sneak out when necessary.

I found a great little cubby (really, a wierd little 6 foot or so square alcove off the main hall of the hotel, with nothing in it but a comfy arm chair) that was perfect for nursing, so that worked very well.

She was pretty much done by the time we were ready to leave, but then, so was I.

I was very proud of her for hanging in there and being so chilled out about it all, especially considering that we'd spent about four hours at our local Democratic headquarters the evening before, for the ice festival.

She really does quite well with these things (so far) and (much to Shrike's chagrin, I'm sure) I'll have her working the polls and canvassing as soon as she's able to walk!

*Several years ago, Anonymama (who, although a school board member for many years, has never been involved in party politics) was referred to in a letter to the editor (by a crazy person) as a "consummate Democratic Party power broker." (Much to the surprise of the actual Democratic Party power brokers in our area, I'm sure.) We loved the description and when I got involved in politics, I adopted it as my own.